And now for something completely different

Gotcha!

Sorry, I lied. I got nothing new to show you. Nothing new to tell. Still the same old, same old tale of a crazy woman and her alarmingly growing obsession with yarn.

It's March, springtime is in the air. My son's birthday is happening next week. St. Patrick's Day is near. When will I ever find a decent Irishman to kiss on St. Paddy's Day? Shamrock Shakes will be coming around. And green colourways a-plenty. Although these yarns are from February club shipments. Maybe they realized people would receive them in March, hence the colourway. Clever women.
I took a peek at the Yarntini shipment already so I knew it was green. I think this is the first green colourway I ever had from Jessie. Apart from the Mint Chocolatini from last year's club, but it had brown stripes and it was a pale green so it doesn't count.

I am fairly new to the world of Plucky and while I love Sarah's red colourways, I think she should dye more green colourways from now on. Look at how utterly beautiful these skeins are! Yarntini on the left and Plucky centre and right.
Yarntini's colour is called Dirty Martini. I have to check out this month's drink recipe, it has to be awesome. I haven't knit with a ny of her yarn yet but if I did I think I would make a really nice pair of socks, with a lot of texture, maybe cables to bring out the rich semi-solid colours.Sarah's colourway is called Father Goose. Sadly I am not familiar with this classic film, but the yarn is just too die for. Superwash Fingering Merino. Two skeins of it! Socks or shawl?
And on a related matter, here's a sneak peak into something I have in the works. More to come soon.

Not long to go now

In about 5 days, I will be able to do this again in person ...
And I will get to see them being funny ...
... and laugh, cry, talk to them ...
... see how much they have grown since June.
Can March 13th please come as soon as possible?

Street Photography

Yesterday saw the last outdoor event for Level 1 of our photography class. It coincided with the final exam for the basic class and was held at Mamzar Beach Park in Dubai.

It was strange and quite fun to see the next generation of Lightform photographers contemplate their status in the group as they prepare for their final exam. Their number yesterday seemed like some students have already dropped out of the course but it was still a fairly large group.
While they segregated into groups to complete the 3 levels of exams, our group walked around the park to look for subjects for our topic: Street Photography. This is a trial run which is meant to be valuated next week except we are required to submit both the photo for evaluation as well as our competition piece. Go figure. It seems that next Friday is the last meeting date and the 19th is the graduation day, which I will miss if my plans to travel happen.

It's true what I've heard that the higher you climb on the Lightform ladder, the less supervision they give you. This is probably just as well, but if someone is ever going to hone their skills and discover for themselves which type of photography to master, they would need closer supervision right? Case in point, in Flash Photography the instructors admitted that they have not covered the topic of Pilots and Slaves, so I feel like they have shortchanged us, again. And no, do not tell me that I can read about it in the flash manual because the manual and real life do not match. I want my money back! Erm...I better shut up in case Big Brother or Sister is watching/reading or being told about what I've written.

Let's just look at the photos then, shall we?

Street photography is supposed to be candid, unposed, unplanned.
It's everyday life, regular folks going about their regular routine, although I doubt if Pauline looks up at the sky contemplatively all the time.
It could be your surroundings. Like this tree whose leaves refused to stay still. Could have been the wind factor though.
All the elements of basic composition still play a part in this. Never forget your ISO, aperture and shutter speed.
It's supposed to tell a story, nothing too obvious but something your viewers could interpret in their own way.
Stained-glass toe nails, anyone? Thanks to the kind Russian lady who allowed to take a photograph of her toes, and to her male companion who did the translation for me.
It could even be streets, literally! It was a hazy, sandstormy day so never mind the grey skies.
Action! Action! Action! Street photography is about action too. Thanks guys for letting me take photographs.
Did I say it should tell a story?
Or something random for when you cannot find any other suitable subject, or have found one but said subject refuses to sign a model release form. Hmpf!
So I did the next best thing: exclude their faces from the frame! Still a viable subject.
My groupmates enjoying lunch after a hard day's job - I had my packed lunch before our photowalk started. Well not quite a hard day but the sandstorm and the lack of interesting subjects made it not-so-fun.
I will be prowling the streets of Dubai this entire week as I choose my project piece. If you happen to see a woman with a camera stuck to her face, do come up and say hi.

Playing at work

That's what it feels like every time I whip the camera out and take photos at work.

Yesterday, I roped in two of my favourite people at work, Stefan and Nadine, into modelling for me for my panoramic project. The phone system was acting up so they had free time to be bossed around by me. We set things up and talked about where I wanted them to be and what I wanted them to do, although I was totally crap at giving directions!

I found that two people in the shot was not enough and needed another. In comes Cord, one of the newbies who is a very charming guy. He was up for it and played very nicely indeed. Three frames in, I realized I needed another face in the shot to pretend as Nadine's client coming out of the meeting room.

Alessandro was around so I grabbed him and made him play too. Newbies are awesome, I tell you!

The two girls at the front desk didn't have to be told anything. They knew what to do which was a relief. And then for the final frame, I waited until Tim was done with his meeting and asked him to stand at the bottom of the stairs. It only took one shot.

And this is the digital version of my final project and competition submission for class. The manually-stitched version will be done over the weekend. Click for bigger, but please note this was saved on the lowest JPG quality as my scratch disc apparently was not big enough.
After all that, Tim asked for a photo of him in his office which will be included in the newsletter and a presentation he was giving to potential candidates at a seminar in Gatwick this coming Sunday.

Corporate enough?
And before you ask, yes I do have signed model release forms from all of these guys.

The MADrona Rare Gems

About a month ago, I was offered by a very nice lady in the US to some Socks That Rock Rare Gems at the annual Madrona festival. I wasn't stupid to say no!

A few Private Messages (PMs for the uninitiated) were exchanged and we settled on the colours, weight and total budget she would grab for me. Well, me and Jackie actually since we're both STR-crazy. Or just plain crazy actually. The day after Madrona, Chi (our generous enabler) posted the photos of the haul on Ravelry and my jaw just dropped. Fifteen gorgeous skeins of lightweight STRs all waiting to be sent to me in Dubai.

A week or so later, they arrived and I was in Rare Gems Heaven!
I wish I could say all that was mine, but alas it wasn't. I shared half the loot with Jackie who adored the pinks! I had first dibs so I grabbed the ones that I liked but also kept in mind which ones Jackie would totally love too and left those behind for her.

This is what I ended up with.
Here's a closer look at the greens and blues. And the pinks. The skein on the left is labeled Valentino, which is one of the new colourways. Chi said it was definitely in the Rare Gems section, could be an experimental skein of Valentino that didn't quite turned out the way Tina wanted it to. Lucky me!
Here are close-up shots of my most favourite skeins.
Gorgeous! Socks for Bernie maybe?
And this will definitely be a shawlette. I'm thinking Gaenor, to break up the colours vertically.
Here is a little sweet extra I found on top of the 15 skeins: a gift from Chi! How freakin' awesome is that? Thanks, Chi!